Question about international payments

i4Marc

i4Marc

Joined
Oct 19, 2011
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I would love to hear thoughts regarding accepting payments from international customers. Which payment methods are most secure? Which would you caution against? Specifically, I have a potential customer in Finland who wants to use Paypal. This would be my first international sale. Also, what kinds of customs issues should I be aware of?
 
Customers are responsible for knowing their customs laws. I make that clear from the first discussion, and get it signed, or at least acknowledged in writing. I use PayPal or e-mail money transfer for payment.
 
I've sold quite a few knives to collectors overseas and have used both paypal and bank wire draft without any issues.
 
Paypal.
I have collectors insurance which covers all of my shipments.
 
I deal with a lot of international payments via paypal.. I am usually the customer due to my location overseas and have yet to have any problems.. as long as the line of communications remain open, there is no problem ..
 
Usps doesn't offer international tracking past our borders, as far as I'm awarebut relies on the other country to provide the tracking info. I sold a knife once that got lost for about two months being routed back and forth between China and Japan several times. Weird situation but the knife finally arrived. I think you risk a guarantee of delivery in such a case.
 
2knife said:
Usps doesn't offer international tracking past our borders, as far as I'm awarebut relies on the other country to provide the tracking info. I sold a knife once that got lost for about two months being routed back and forth between China and Japan several times. Weird situation but the knife finally arrived. I think you risk a guarantee of delivery in such a case.
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USPS tracking is Way better now than it used to be. It does track overseas now, were it used to not.
 
USPS does have tracking overseas but it does not offer "signature confirmation".

To get signature confirmation you have to go with FedEx or UPS.

The thing is it can cost about $150 + for FedEx signature confirmation on international packages.

I had one guy, who insists on international signature confirmation, was telling me, he can get USA makers to make him a knife of his design for $300 shipped.

I laughed at that one and told him he should take that deal.

So when qouting shipping be aware how much it is if they want it signed for.
 
Thank you gentlemen! Do you need to describe the contents for customs? If so do you say the contents are a knife or do you say "garden tools" or something?
 
PayPal works fine. If you are nervous because the order is coming from somewhere that has a history of scams, figure out how long it actually takes a payment to be confirmed and tell the customer that you won't ship until that happens. As for customs, the customer probably knows the various tricks for their own country. A couple of orders that I got from the UK and the EU had me put "camping tools" on the customs declaration instead of "knives." If they see knives, they willthink that they are kitchen knives (if you are lucky) and want to charge duty or they will suspect that they are some kind of contraband, dig through the box, possbly try to keep the knives even if they are legal and then charge duty. Worst casesecnario? they get stolen. ;) As best as I remember, only one or two got hung up in customs and one of those was at the infamous "Mount Doom" facility in the UK where USPS packages get handed off to the somewhat dodgy Parcel Force instead of the Royal Mail for some reason.
 
While USPS EMS is trackable, there is a part of the journey, that is not.
When USPS hands over to the carrier that gets it "overseas" no tracking is available; that changes, when the parcel reaches the land of the addressee.
You can check the status on 2 sites (USPS and the finish-equivalent). First you get info on the US side only - then the black box - then you can track on the finish-side (most often no info at that time at USPS).
If the parcel get's lost during that black box time, that's a problem.
USPS refuses responsibility (because it handed over to the carrier) and the Post of the other land has never signed that it received the parcel.
(While during domestic shipping it would be clear in the responsibility of USPS, here it is not.)

Customs is another topic.
Finnland is a member of the EU, so the addressee is responsible for customs (unless otherwise agreed).
He will have to pay Value Added Tax as well as Duty, depending on the value of the goods and their declaration.
i.e.: kitchen knives can have a different tarif that camping knives.
Sometimes customs is satisfied with the given declaration, sometimes they ask proof of payment.
Since they are the administration of the government, they have ways to make you proof.

hope this helps
Good luck with your transaction.
 
i4Marc said:
Thank you gentlemen! Do you need to describe the contents for customs? If so do you say the contents are a knife or do you say "garden tools" or something?
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I usuaally ask my clients on the receiving end how they want me to declare it. I work with collectors, and anything I ship isn't usually their first overseas acquisition.

I have used 'Camping tool' with reservation. On an exotic Jose deBraga piece it was called a 'Cosplay fantasy item'.

I prefer 'dressy utility display knife with decorative leather sheath' I often undervalue the knife to not raise eyebrows, but I defer to the client's wishes (usually that's what they ask.)

My fingers are ALWAYS crossed on international shipments. I shipped an important box via FedEx to China for $160 and it arrived in 3 days. When I use USPS for $60 it takes a week or more. There are other lower cost options via USPS but time and security has value.

PayPal is flawless, but you will get zinged more on fees. I have to add more than a US fee on my international work because of all the extra time and angst. Only fair.
 
One way for the maker to avoid some extra Pay Pal is for them to "split the fees" so to speak and have the customer pay in US dollars. The customer eat the "currency conversion" fee and the maker eats the transaction fee as many normally do anyway.
SharpByCoop said:
I usuaally ask my clients on the receiving end how they want me to declare it. I work with collectors, and anything I ship isn't usually their first overseas acquisition.

I have used 'Camping tool' with reservation. On an exotic Jose deBraga piece it was called a 'Cosplay fantasy item'.

I prefer 'dressy utility display knife with decorative leather sheath' I often undervalue the knife to not raise eyebrows, but I defer to the client's wishes (usually that's what they ask.)

My fingers are ALWAYS crossed on international shipments. I shipped an important box via FedEx to China for $160 and it arrived in 3 days. When I use USPS for $60 it takes a week or more. There are other lower cost options via USPS but time and security has value.

PayPal is flawless, but you will get zinged more on fees. I have to add more than a US fee on my international work because of all the extra time and angst. Only fair.
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Like @Ben especially on Bladeforum, ebayUs and other paypal fastest for secure transaction, really a pleasure and not expensive ...
 
Marc, when I was a small time buyer/collector I did many int'l transactions and that gave me a leg up on deals where other guys didn't want to mess with int'l deals.
Never had a problem with paypal, I've also had a wire xfer on a large purchase when I sold my collection (to fund knifemaking :-) ).

most of the time postal service works just fine, never lost a package either way.
but if you want to be certain --->> Fedex for about $150 and 3 days transit.

and I use cutting tool, camp tool etc.
 
This is why it's fun to send packages to Austria. You can declare the item "Super scary dangerous bigass sharp sword" and it'll sail right through!
 
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